Twitter

Twitpic, the photo-sharing service built to be used with and almost completely reliant on Twitter itself, was forced into shutting down back in September, but its archive, full of years of user photos, was on its way to deletion until Twitter stepped in at the last minute. Oddly enough it was actually Twitter that forced Twitpic to close its doors, but at least now the latter's archive will be preserved as it is.

When it comes to old-school meeting new-school, the Queen of England taking to Twitter for the first time is probably as odd as it gets. Queen Elizabeth II didn't get to send her first tweet in the privacy of her bedroom like many of us, either; instead, the message posted to the official @BritishMonarchy account was sent out by the Queen from the Science Museum in London, UK, to mark the opening of the new Information Age exhibition there. Only problem is, there's already some controversy about whether the Monarch actually did send out the tweet.

Twitter is hoping to embed itself as the authenticating heart of every app and service, with a new way to use phone numbers rather than usernames or email addresses a key part of its new Fabric mobile platform for developers. Dubbed Digits, the system allows developers to inject Twitter into their apps and use it as an invisible sign-up system, tied to their cellphone number. However, Twitter Fabric faces an uphill battle trying to win mobile developers onto its side, after the short-message social platform so comprehensively yanked the rug out from under third-party Twitter apps.

If you find a lot of music via Twitter, it can be a bit bothersome to have to migrate away from the app just to listen to a track. At least with the mobile version of Twitter, that’s about to change. Twitter is announcing a new feature named Audio Card, which lets you click on a shared track for playback right in their app. You can also continue browsing your stream while the track plays, as it docks to the bottom of your screen.

This is certainly a strange app release if ever there was one. The generally mobile app Vine has been released for Xbox One. That’s before a dedicated Vine app has been released for OS X, before a dedicated app has been released for Windows. Vine has been released for Windows Phone, however, as well as iOS and Android. And you can gain access to Vine content via a web browser if you do so choose. That means basically every device has Vine now.

Twitter wants you to know what information the Government is looking for. Sadly, they’re bound by restrictions which prevent them from releasing such granular info about requests made of them. In a move that will push the boundaries of transparency, Twitter is taking the U.S. Government to court for the ability to offer that info.

Hey, remember desktop computing? No? Well, neither does Twitter, apparently. Their Mac app received an update today, giving it a few tricks we’ve already been taking advantage of for mobile. That is, of course, if you’ve not moved onto a third-party app already.

We previously told you that Twitter was testing out a system for allowing users to purchase goods right from their timeline. With the “Buy” button, goods and (perhaps someday) services could be purchased with a few clicks, making Twitter much more than a social platform. That feature is now being rolled out, with Twitter rolling out an explanatory video alongside it.

The launch of the app Cirqle symbolizes our wish to move away from the complicated mess present in social networks of the past. In Cirqle, made for iOS first, we’re seeing the likes of Instagram, Twitter, and Google+ turned into one extremely simple app. It’s photo sharing made just about as tiny as it can be.

Celebrities and other big wigs on Twitter have long had access to their accounts' metrics, able to see user engagement and other information on followers and account activity. That feature has been extended to include (almost) every user, regardless of whether they're verified.